shotten

American  

[shot-n] / ˈʃɒt n /

adjective

1. (of fish, especially herring) having recently ejected the spawn.

2. Obsolete. (of a bone) dislocated.

---

shotten British  

/ ˈʃɒtən /

adjective

1. (of fish, esp herring) having recently spawned

2. archaic worthless or undesirable

---

Etymology

Origin of shotten

1175–1225; Middle English, past participle of shoot ¹

Example Sentences

It has sometimes in the end of words a sound obscure, and scarcely perceptible, as open, shapen, shotten, thistle, participle, metre, lucre.

From A Grammar of the English Tongue by Johnson, Samuel

Forth then shotten these children two, And they did never lin, Until they came to merry Churchlees, To merry Churchlees within.

From Ballads of Robin Hood and other Outlaws Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - Fourth Series by Sidgwick, Frank

After they have let go their roes, they are called shotten mackerel, and are not worth catching; the roe, which was all that was good of them, being gone.

From The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual by Kitchiner, William

Now when their father, who was a man shotten in years, saw that his two eldest sons hated their brother, he feared lest after his death trouble should befall him from them.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 06 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

But my father is now an old man well shotten in years and he is sore grieved in mind at this long separation from his youngest son.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 13 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir